Author: Dewey

The Maravillas Story

Sinking of the Capitana and Cargo Recovery
The story of the Nuestra Senora de Las Maravillas (the “Maravillas”) actually began with a Spanish galleon called the Capitana. The Capitana set sail from South America in October 1654 headed for the Pacific coast of Panama. It carried a treasure of freshly minted gold escudos, silver pieces of eight, chalices of gold and silver, and crosses encrusted with emeralds. The main cargo, however, was a 400-pound, solid-gold statue of the Virgin Mary holding the baby Jesus commissioned by King Philip IV of Spain. He believed he could buy his way into heaven by presenting the gold statue to the mother church in Spain. Unfortunately, the Capitana sank eight days later in a storm off the coast of Ecuador. The treasure lay in 40 feet of water and King Philip was adamant that it be recovered no matter what the cost. Slaves and divers recovered most of the treasure, including the solid-gold statue.

Capitana’s Treasure Transferred to Las Maravillas
The treasure recovered from the Capitana was shipped to Havana, where a larger fleet was preparing to set sail for Spain. To ensure that nothing would go wrong this time, King Philip had the treasure loaded on the 650-ton Maravillas (Nuestra Senora de Las Maravillas translates to Our Lady of Miracles)

Departure and Sinking
The Maravillas was blessed by the Archbishop of Havana and set sail for Spain on New Year’s Day, 1656 along with 22 armed warships. The chief navigator was sure they had cleared the sand shoals and coral reefs of the Bahamas when all of a sudden; a reef appeared on the horizon. A cannon was fired to warn the rest of the fleet to alter their course.

Not all the ships responded to the warning and as the Maravillas came about, she was rammed head-on by a smaller ship. Water began pouring into the Maravillas’ hold and the masts of the two vessels became tangled. As the crews worked frantically to free the rigging, water continued to flood the Maravillas and she finally settled in 30 feet of water.

The crew knew the treasure had to be saved. As plans were made to recover the treasure, a storm moved in and within hours the Maravillas disappeared into the sea. Only 45 of the crew survived and the king’s treasure was lost again. King Philip IV died in 1665 without ever recovering the solid-gold statue.

On the fateful voyage, La Nuestra Señora de la Maravillas was the almiranta (second in command) of a Spanish treasure fleet headed to Spain with a cargo of gold, silver, and other valuables. It is estimated that the ship carried over five million pesos worth of gold bars and silver coins. The ship was under the command of Don Cristobal de Salinas and sailed with over six hundred souls on board.

The Shipwreck

After years of serving the Catholic Church in Peru and anxious to return home to Spain, Padre Diego boarded the Maravillas in Cartagena in the fall of 1655. Along with the other seven ships of the treasure fleet, the Maravillas stopped briefly in Havana before heading north towards the Bahamas on January 1, 1656. Three days later, the fleet encountered a ferocious storm. The ships drifted off course and into shallow reefs surrounding the Bahamas. In the pitch dark, another ship in the fleet collided with the Maravillas, splintering the planks below the waterline.

In his diary, Survivor Padre Diego wrote…Pounding waves began breaking the ship into pieces, filling the waist of the galleon. I groped through the confusion to reach Admiral Don Matías de Orellana. “Admiral, what should we do?” I asked. His frankness was shocking. “We will be lost without remedy. Please confess all who wish to be absolved.”

Water begins to fill the galleon, so the padre climbs to the highest cabin of the sterncastle where he finds “the great lanterns of the galleon still lit, reflecting an unearthly glow against the pitch-darkness. Everyone was begging for God’s mercy.”

Padre Diego realizes that the ship is breaking up and jumps to a lower level that is awash with sea water. “As I clung to the hatch cover trying not to be washed overboard, the entire sterncastle of the Maravillas, all three decks of it, crashed in a tumbling fall, astern to starboard. The tower of breaking wood sent horrified and screaming people sprawling into the sea in every direction.”

Padre Diego clings to the hatch as he is washed overboard and spends the next day clinging to it with several other survivors before they are rescued. He is one of only forty five survivors.

Modern Salvage of the Maravillas

Bob Marx spent over ten years researching various archives to find clues to the location of the Maravillas. He finally located the bow section of the wreck in 1972 and salvaged over 1700 coins and many artifacts. Due to disagreements with the government of the Bahamas, Marx quickly lost access to the site.

The next salvage operation, carried out by Herbert Humphreys, continued into the late 1980s.

Using new electronic equipment to detect metal, the crew continued to find coins and also recovered a 100 carat uncut emerald. Despite the wealth already discovered, many believe that the bulk of the treasure carried by the Maravillas remains to be found.

Taj Mahal is the stage name of Henry Saint Clair Fredericks who is a currently active and world renowned Blues musician. He is probably best known for incorporating many different styles and forms into his blues such African, Carribean and South Pacific themes. Taj Mahal was born in Harlem, New York on the 17th May 1942 the child of a West Indian Jazz pianist father and an American Gospel choir singer mother. This gave Taj his deep grounding in music of all different varieties.

Whilst being a multi instrumentalist Taj Mahal is best known for his distinctive guitar playing where he uses his thumb and middle finger to finger-pick rather than the more conventional use of his index finger or the use of a plectrum.

1. Maestro

Maestro is Taj Mahal’s latest and probably best album and marks his 40 years in the business. Its an all-star album which has guest appearances from luminaries such as Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Los Lobos etc and covers the whole gamut of styles that you would expect from Taj Mahal, ranging from reggae to African music on “Zanzibar”. However there is still enough straight out blues to make this a cracking good Blues album, for instance the opener “Scratch My Back” is straight ahead brassy and soulful and “Slow Drag” burns nice and slow.

2. Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal is Taj Mahal’s debut album and is still one of his best works. This album shows Taj trying to establish himself and his sound and is more out and out Delta Blues than some of his other albums but there is still elements of Country and Rock mixed in to separate this from the pack

His guitar playing is relentless and constantly driving forward yet somehow bare compared to his contempories. His vocals however keep this album right up to date and show a young man starting to define himself whilst still paying homage to the old guard.

3. The Real Thing

The Real Thing is Taj Mahal’s first Live album and was released in 1970. It is a double album recorded live at the Fillmore and covers all the bases from the groove and crowd interaction of “You’re Going to Need Somebody On Your Bond” to a grand finale of “You Ain’t No Street Walker Mama, Honey But I Do Love The Way You Strut Your Stuff”. This stuff is raw Delta Blues with a twist and there’s no bigger twist than “Tom and Sally Drake” where you get a Banjo and Tuba duet.

This is one powerful performance.

4. Giant Step/De Ole Folks at Home

Giant Step / De Ole Folks at Home is Taj’s 3rd studio album and probably his most commercial offering. Originally this was released as a double album and this record gives you 22 tracks separated into two distinct albums. The first album is the most commercial with the full band taking on the blues in full rock style including “Give Your Woman What She Wants” and “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl.”. The second album is more laid back and features Taj solo with just the guitar, harp or banjo on versions of “Stagger Lee” and “Fishing Blues”.

5. Dancing the Blues

Dancing the Blues is taken from later on in Taj’s career and was released originally in 1993. The album represents Taj Mahal’s homage to classic Blues from the 40’s and 50’s, featuring Howlin Wolf’s “Sitting on Top of the World” along with a tip of the hat to Motown on the Four Tops “I Can’t Help Myself”. Then there’s the slow blues of “That’s How Strong My Love Is” and “Going to the River”. It even features a duet with Etta James on “Mockingbird”.

This is a great album with no low points.

6. Phantom Blues

The Phantom Blues album was released in 1996 and carries on from where Dancing the Blues left off. Here Taj covers more classics from the 40’s through to the 60’s. There’s more of a New Orleans flavor this time with such classics as Jesse Hill’s “Ooh Poo Pah Doo” and Fats Domino’s “Let the Four Winds Blow.”. Taj Mahal provides one original track which is the country-sounding “Lovin’ in My Baby’s Eyes.”

This album is more straight forward than some of Taj’s other work but certainly none the worse for that.

7. Senor Blues

The Senor Blues album is the follow up to Phantom Blues and continues Taj’s homage to the music of his past. From the first beautiful notes of “Queen Bee”, through the super-tight and mellow “Senor Blues”, through the gospel-drenched “Things Gettin’ Crazy Up In Here”, to the final Otis tribute “Mr. Pitiful”. This record has it all, not a dud track and all played by Taj and his Phantom Blues band with feeling and true understanding and as tight as anything.

8. The Natch’l Blues

The Natch’l Blues is Taj Mahals second studio album and is a worthy inclusion here. As with his debut album this shows Taj finding his feet and his voice and working out what his career is to become.

It is a light and happy album which is more upbeat than your usual blues album and veers off into the country genre quite easily. As with most of Taj’s work there are a whole cornucopia of different influences blended in together but as usual he manages to do this in a seemless way.

9. Kulanjan

The Kulanjan album is a collaboration between Taj Mahal and Malian musician Toumani Diabate.

Somehow they manage to blend their two disparate styles seemlessly, this is best showcased on “Atlanta Kaira” and “Kulanjan” as Toumani’s kora blends perfectly with Taj’s steel guitar. There’s the straight blues with a twist of Muddy Water’s “Catfish Blues” and the straight African rhythms of “Tunkaranke.

The sound of this album is unique, inspiring and compelling.

10. Mo’ Roots

The Mo’ Roots album from 1974 shows Taj exploring his Caribbean roots from his father again infusing it with his own blues roots.

You get Taj singing in Spanish on “Why Did You Have to Desert Me?”, a reggae influenced version of “Blackjack Davey” and a cover of Bob Marley’s “Slave Driver’, all this backed up with “Cajun Waltz”. This is a truly mesmeric album that will constantly give you a lift on each listening.

In the 90’s I built a recording studio called Voice Works in West Palm Beach, Fl recorded and worked with a lot of great musicians. Bob Noble was my producer and I ended up selling the gear to him. Had a great time!

In 1992 Bob and his family moved to the US (Seattle, Washington), and in 1995 they moved to Lake Worth in Florida (they like heat!). He now has a home studio where he has produced, engineered and arranged several CD’s for local artists, and has also written and produced background music and several adverts for TV. Bob also plays regularly with multi-talented singer and instrumentalist, Bobby O’Donovan, in an Irish duo called Fire In The Kitchen – www.fireinthekitchen.info at different venues in South Florida.

Tracy Sands- Enchanted

Tracy Sands is a traditional Irish singer and Contemporary Irish Vocalist. She was born in Mayobridge, a small village in County Down, Ireland where she began singing at the age of eight for her hometown. She had the honour of being trained over many years by a well known local teacher, Una McArdle and competed in and won countless local and national singing competitions under Una’s guidance. Her family comes from a long line of Traditional Irish folk music performers, including the very famous “Sands Folk Family”, who are known all over the world. “Tracy has a beautiful voice”, Charles Passey PB Post.

Tracy played at many festivals and concerts in Ireland, including the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, before coming to America, where she was the only woman to be invited as the guest singer for the W.B Yeates International Festival in 1994. She has also appeared at the Fiddlers Green Festival, Rostrevor Co. Down.

Now living in Florida, Tracy has performed on many local stages for over ten years and has participated in the West Palm Beach Irish Festival and South Florida Folk Festival, and the Bad Abbotts Irish Festival, Boston. She also appeared at the hugely popular “Sunfest”, in West Palm Beach. She has taken the stages of Milwaukee, Cleveland, Ohio, Pittsburgh, and Augusta GA at their Irish Festivals.

Her debut album “Voice on the Line” was recorded in Florida in early 1997 and Tracy wrote and produced the title track. The CD is a collaboration of well known Irish songs, and was praised for its “contemporary kick”, as described by Charles Passey, of the Palm Beach Post. Her second album, “Enchanted,” also available gives us those beautiful vocals with Irish ballads and contemporary songs that would warm your soul.
Tracy can be seen performing all over Florida, as well as at venues throughout America. tracysands.com

MAYOBRIDGE ex-pat, Tracy Sands, is .set to make waves in the US with the release of her new music album, ‘Enchanted’. Featuring original songs and guest writers, including fellow Mayobridge native, Kieran Goss, the release has been billed as “an album of more contemporary sound. Expect to hear quieter tones of traditional style…” The record is the second release from the Co. Down artist who recorded her debut album, “Voice On The Line’ in Florida, 1997. The release also marks yet another milestone on the road of Tracy’s musical career. She began singing at the age of eight and since then competed in, and won, many local and national competitions. During her time she has played at Abbey Theatre, Dublin, where she was invited as the guest speaker for the WB Yeats International Festival in 1994. She has also appeared at the Fiddler’s Green festival in Rostrevor, bringing the house down in 1995, Following her move to Florida, she played at events such as the West Palm Beach Irish Festival and the South Florida Folk Festival, for three years running, Last year saw her appearing at the huge ‘Sunfest 2000’ gig on Palm Beach. Her latest offering marks a move towards giving traditional Irish ballads a contemporary kick and, with critics hailing this new album, how long will it be until we see the triumphant return of one of Newry and Mourne’s best success stories?

Jennifer Licko

Jennifer is an exceptional vocalist and multi-instrumentalist who plays the piano, guitar, and bodhrán (Irish drum). By living and touring all over the world Jennifer has not only experienced a variety of cultural traditions, but she has also developed a passion for the preservation of these traditions. When you listen to Jennifer perform, you are reminded of your roots and you feel like you belong. “We all want to belong to something bigger than us” says Licko, “the truth
is that we all DO belong. We just need to stay connected to our traditions. I hope my performances help bring audiences to that place.” jenniferlicko.com

George E. Manosis – “Love and Other Disasters”

George is a Singer/Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in South Florida. Currently, he plays guitar and

mandolin in the Celtic rock band ‘Innisfree’, in addition to his solo gigs. George has played repeat engagements at
the annual South Florida Folk Festival, and he and his original songs can be heard at various clubs, festivals

A collection of stylistically diverse songs (Folk/Pop/Blues/Easy Listening/Country)that share a common thread, with tales of love from the innocent to the illicit.

Track list

Hurricane
Nitro-Glycerine
Kate
Who Cares About Apathy?
Dream Vacation
A Soft Lullaby
What They Do in the Dark
Mom & Dad
Crazy ’bout Each Other
Have a Happy Holiday
A Grand Cayman Wedding
Habanero Hop

CD Review: This CD is recommended as new discovery for any fan of Jimmy Buffet. It’s straight ahead story telling with mellow smooth voice and arrangements, and as you can guess by the title, a good sprinkling of humor throughout.I think he puts it perfectly at the top of his liner notes describing the songs as dedications and observations. The topics are quite varied. He writes observations about love, hurricanes and habeneros. Included are observations about his parents, new love full of hope, and not so new love turning into secrets and lies. The title sums up the way that they all are tied together.Kate Bush fans will also enjoy decoding his song “Kate” because as he puts it, this song incorporates the titles of her albums and contains other obscure references in the lyrics. But for the most part the songs are not puzzles. They are straightforward story songs delivered in George’s smooth voice. The production quality is nice, with a gentle treatment that allows the lyrics and the stories to be in the foreground.

Rod MacDonald– “Into the Blue”

A tenor with a clear voice and wide range, MacDonald is often cited for both his musicality and the content of his songs about political and social events: “Rod MacDonald is a brilliant folk singer and composer. His melodic songs possess words that go straight into your heart and soul.” The Press Of Atlantic City….“A poet with a lot on his mind who has never allowed himself to make points at the expense of making music.” The Boston Globe….“True to the folk tradition, MacDonald is not afraid to get political, take chances, and perhaps shock some people….MacDonald’s place in the folk hall of fame is assured by his ‘A Sailor’s Prayer,’ a hymn-styled tune that many people have mistaken for a traditional song.” All-Music Guide.[2]Although usually labeled a folk singer, his musical styles include rock, pop, country, light jazz, and blues. In addition to his work in Greenwich Village, he has written extensively of experiences on US Indian reservations and in Europe, living in Italy from 1989 to 1992.

MacDonald has released 11 solo recordings on several record labels in the US, 8 in Europe on the Swiss label Brambus, and 21 songs with Smithsonian Folkways (through the Fast Folk Musical Magazine), and appears as lead singer of Big Brass Bed, a Palm Beach County rock and roll band, on 3 cds of Bob Dylan songs and originals. As with many independent artists, his recordings are often sold directly at concerts, and at online sites. His current label is Blue Flute Music.

He remains active, touring in Florida, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the Pacific Northwest, New York and New England in 2012, 2013 and 2014. In May 2011, Brambus Records and Blue Flute Music released Songs Of Freedom, a collection of 16 previously unreleased songs, in Switzerland and the US; Blue Flute also released Big Brass Bed’s “Dylan Jam + 2”, a new set of 9 Bob Dylan compositions and two originals. In May 2014 Blue Flue Music released a new Rod MacDonald collection, “Later That Night”, as well as “Big Tent”, a new cd by Big Brass Bed; Blue Flute also re-released a remastered version of his 1983 album “No Commercial Traffic.” He appears locally as a guitarist-singer, and with the Bob Dylan cover band Big Brass Bed, with the Humdingers, with Irish singer Tracy Sands, and with songwriter George Goehring’s show “My Life In The Brill Building”. The Palm Beach Post has called him one of the “Ten Magnificent Musicians of Palm Beach County”.[3] In June 2013 New Times Broward-Palm Beach named him #6 of “Ten Greatest South Florida Folksingers Of All Time.”[4] Since 2006 he is also an instructor for the Florida Atlantic University (Lifelong Learning Center), hosting the lecture and performance series “Music Americana”, and was given the Distinguished Faculty Award in 2012

Track list

Seven Days No Problem
Best Defense
Days Of Rain
Here’s A Song For You
Tough Life 6 Strings & A Hole Big & Round
The Aucilla River Song
Deep Down In The Everglades
Lightning Over The Sea
Into The Blue FearSun DancerThe Cure For Insomnia

HUGH O’NEILL – Searching for Shadows

“Hugh O’Neill is one of those rare discoveries that bring confidence and assurances that great landscape painting is still alive and flourishing” Bruce Helander is a noted writer on art and the former provost of Rhode Island School of Design and a writer for New Yorker Magazine

“He is a multitalented artist ‘Grier Clarke, owner of the prestigious Clarke Galleries, Stowe, Vermont, dealers in important American paintings

The Songwriter’s Solstice: “A Celebration of South Florida Songwriters” was recorded before a live audience at the Rinker Playhouse, The Kravis Center, West Palm Beach, FL, June 21, 1998. Presenting 14 songs from this diverse group of south Florida’s top original artists,

By Bill Meredith(Originally appeared in the Free Press, West Palm Beach, FL, 3/99)
Summer in the county

For better or worse, the 1990s made the compilation CD unto an ultra-commercial art form. So it’s not surprising that there’s finally a compilation CD for Palm Beach County. Songwriters’ Solstice is well-recorded, well-produced, and it’s available at a music store near you for $12. With 14 songs on the disc, that’s less than $1 per tune.

Songwriters’ Solstice was recorded live last June at the Kravis Center Rinker Playhouse during a concert to benefit the Connor Moran Childen’s Cancer Foundation in West Palm Beach. The CD sounds like the show (I know, I was there). South Florida singer/songwriter/guitarist Rod MacDonald was instrumental in setting up the event, and his Neil Young-like “Days of Rain” is one of the solo-performer highlights. Others include Marie Nofsinger’s tongue-in-cheek “I Am Blue,” Amy Carol Webb’s soaring ballad “With You Without You,” and James London’s “The Road Not Taken.”

Area duos and trios are also well-represented. Mad Dogs & Irishmen’s “Hustle & Bustle” is traditional rich Irish poetry; Ron & Bari’s “The Lion’s Den” is a biographical tale of the very different neighborhood that used to inhabit the Kravis Center site; and Legacy’s “At Last” wraps expert vocal harmony, guitar, and mandolin playing into the disc’s most upbeat tune.

Two full bands are in effect here: Boxelder shows its unplugged side with the shuffling “Lately,” and Human Beings provide the Solstice centerpiece with their serpentining eight-minute epic “Stairwell From Heaven.” Jim Collier & friends offer an audio snapshot of the crowded cover photo with the gospel-tinged finale, “You Are The One.”

Kudos to recording engineers Marty Gauthier, Duane Engstrom, and the Kravis’ own John Wurm. Ditto for the production by Gauthier, Engstrom and MacDonald. The sold-out concert raised $1,000 for Conor Moran, which receives an additional $1 per retail CD sold. Songwriters’ Solstice is available at all Peaches and Borders locations, and this purposeful compilation is an accurate soundtrack to the lighter side of the south Florida music scene.

(Originally appeared in the Free Press, West Palm Beach, FL, 3/99)

Jody Pollard – Session Musician

Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, Jody Pollard has over 30 years experience playing electric, slide, acoustic guitar, bass, mandolin, a proficient song writer and vocalist, He has performed with top bands in Ireland, Britain, France, Belgium, Holland,The Greek Isles,Canada and the US, including Rock Bands’ Skid Row, Elmer Fudd, and Shanty Dam. He has played the famous Reading Music Festival, London’s top venue: The Mean Fiddler and Fleadh Music Festival.

Jody has also performed with famous European acts such as Joe Dolan and Has worked with musicians such as Phil Lynnot of Thin Lizzy, Colm Wilkinson of Jesus Christ Superstar and Les Miserables fame, Sean Keane of The Chieftains,Rob Strong and Enya’s sound engineer Nicky Ryan to mention a few.

He has toured with bands and as a solo artist throughout Europe and North America. Performed on televised venues and supported acts such as Emerson Lake and Palmer, The Who, Genesis, Wishbone Ash, and Argent to name a few. One of Jody’s favourite gigs was playing the Melody Makers poll awards concert to an audience of 30,000+

Since playing in every corner of Ireland, Jody moved to London, England and continued his successful career over there.He moved on to New York for a while but decided that he had enough of big cities and headed further south. Jody always had an itch to live in the sunshine and now resides in Palm Beach County in South Florida, he has played at numerous venues including but not limited to the The Kravis Center, Myer Amphitheater, The Miami Beach Convention Center, The Norton Museum and PGA National. Locally Jody has also entertained audiences at Brogues on the Avenue:Lake Worth, The Irish Times: Palm Beach Gardens, Rooney’s Pub: West Palm Beach, Paddy Macs: Palm Beach Gardens, Abacoa, Sally O’Briens, Fort Lauderdale Beach,Maguires Hill 16: Fort Lauderdale FL. & John Martins, Miami.

Jody’s session work can also be heard on several South Florida recording artists cd’s.

Eamonn Dillon – Session Musician

Born in West Belfast, Northern Ireland, Uillleann Piper and whistle player EAMONN DILLON has toured and recorded both as a solo artist and with a varied group of performers, touring shows and bands. Working between the US, Canada and Europe , his music has been featured on several film and television programs around the world. He has performed and recorded as a featured artist in both traditional , theatrical and mixed genre ensembles, including NEEDFIRE, JOHN MCDERMOTT, (The Irish Tenors,) CELTIC BRIDGE, KING JAMES, SARAH PACKIAM, & PALOMA FAITH amongst others.

Jennifer Licko
Cd……..Cave of Gold

Bobby O’Donovan – Session Musician

hails from Cork City, Ireland, and is a wonderful singer and multi-instrumentalist, playing mandolin, fiddle, bodhran, whistle, bones, spoons – you name it, he probably plays it! He has a long career playing with numerous groups, including, but not limited to, The Irish Rovers and The Sons of Erin, with whom he played on fifteen albums. They had several hits in Canada, and also a television series in Newfoundland for many years.

He has played all over the world, and has just returned from New Zealand, where he played with Scottish singer/songwriter Isla Grant. He has played as a session musician on many, many recordings, including a Jimmy Buffett album, “Banana Wind”. He is also very funny!

Jennifer Licko
Cd……..Cave of Gold

ShaSha Zhang – Session Musician

ShaSha (nee Sha Zhang), originally hails from the city of Chengdu in the Sichuan province of China. The Sichuan province is famed for its extremely spicy food, but is rapidly gaining renown for its equally spicy fiddle players!

A mathematics prodigy and student of classical violin since the age of 6, ShaSha was in training to join the junior Chinese Mathematic Olympic Team when she was accepted to the prestigious Sichuan Conservatory of Music. She opted for music over mathematics, and her decision paid off. I n 1996, she won first prize at the China University Students Art Festival. ShaSha would have been content to spend her life performing the works of Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms, but a summer scholarship to the Dartington International School in England changed her life forever.

Her studies in England initially revolved around master classes with world-famous violin virtuosos Ruggerio Ricci and Kun Hu. But when ShaSha heard an instructor play through the Irish reel “Drowsy Maggie”, she was captivated. She spent the rest of her time in the UK immersing herself in Celtic music.

Back in China, she collected whatever Celtic reccordings she could
and continued exploring the musical style that had thrilled her like no other. She formed the band “Jambalaya” with several of the most accomplished musicians in ChengDu and their mix of Celtic, American Country and Jazz music caught on. They garnered appearances on Chinese television and radio stations, and enjoyed a steady stream of gigs in the Sichuan province.

In 1999, ShaSha accepted an invitation to America to perform in concerts and on tour. In the US, she hoped to broaden her horizons and indulge her eclectic musical taste by exploring a variety of Western music styles. She settled in Palm Beach, Florida, where she performs with the Palm Beach Pops, Palm Beach Opera and the Atlantic Classical Chamber Orchestra. Her arrival in the US afforded ShaSha the opportunity to connect with the surprisingly vast Celtic music community in South Florida and she was soon gracing festival and pub stages with the best in town musicians, such as former Irish Rovers members, Bobby O’Donovan and Ian Millar.

ShaSha’s uncanny knack for playing by ear astounded her fellow musicians and she quickly made a name for herself. “I could tell as soon as she picked up the violin that she had it”, says Bob Noble, formerly of Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Noble and O’Donovan adopted ShaSha as a permanent member of their band “Fire in the Kitchen”, based in Fort Lauderdale, and the press took notice. The Miami Herald and Sun Sentinel ran glowing reviews focusing on ShaSha’s infectiously exuberant style.

Jennifer Licko
Cd……..Cave of Gold

John Charles “Charlie” Morgan – Session Musician

With 4 decades in the business, much of it at the very top, Charlie’s resumé reads like a Who’s Who of the Music Industry.

Turning “Pro” in the mid 1970’s he soon got into the session scene in the UK, and very quickly became one of the busiest session drummers in Europe, working with such diverse artists as Kate Bush, Tina Turner, Gary Moore & Wham!

In the mid 1980’s he became Elton John’s regular drummer (a post he would hold for the next 13 years), both recording & touring with him.

He has lived in the USA for the past 14 years, working regularly with Classic Rock band Orleans & recording for clients all over the world, including Barry Manilow, Mexican superstars, Manuel Mijares & Uri and Young Latin Grammy nominee, Alexander Acha.

Bill Walach – Session Musician

Bill is well known throughout the mandolin world as a ‘silver
haired innovator’, an old school musician with new musical
perspectives. He draws on roots as diverse as Latin and Irish
folk traditions, “Straight Ahead” jazz, and rythym and
blues. A gifted multi-instrumentalist and composer Bill has
performed throughout New England and Europe in a
myriad of musical venues. The rock festival at Roskilde in
Denmark, Irish festivals in Milwaukee, Pittsburg and
Cleveland, fiddle and folk festivals in New York and
classical concerts at Fairchild Tropical Gardens in Miami to
name a few. He has also opened for Del McCrory, Dave Van
Ronk, Boz Scaggs, Charlie Daniels and Mel Tillis, and has
played with The Morgans, Electric Sextet, and more recently,
Finest Kind in Connecticut.
His personable and easy manner and musical mastery always
generates an enthusiastic audience response resulting in a fan
base from teenagers to grandparents.
A resident of Connecticut, Bill continues to compose, perform
new works and to stretch the boundaries within which
audiences of all ages can enjoy the music of the mandolin.
“

A Collection of Global Blues Music for Our Environment

Recorded in May 2011 in New Orleans at the famed Piety Street Recording following the one-year the anniversary of the Gulf Oil Spill Disaster, Blues Planet explores a new genre of “Global Blues” that spotlights environmental artist Wyland’s passion for conservation through the blues sounds of Memphis, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Delta. 100% of profits from digital downloads of “Dirty Oil” via iTunes will benefit National Wildlife Federation® efforts to help Gulf wildlife, waters, and communities recover from the BP oil spill disaster.

First official music video from Wyland Records new release, Blues Planet, performed by the Wyland Blues Planet Band, featuring Taj Mahal, Steve Turre, Rod Piazza and the Mighty Flyers, Willie K and many more. 100% of profits from digital downloads of “Dirty Oil” via iTunes to benefit National Wildlife Federal® cleanup efforts in the Gulf of Mexico.
Full Blues Planet album available at http://www.wylandstore.com/dvd/cd/blu…

The Story

The Mississippi River Delta is home to one of the most diverse and abundant ecosystems in the world and a thriving culture spanning generations. The 2010 Gulf Oil Spill disaster impacted the lives of thousands of people and the ecological balance of the region. See first hand the impact and stories from the region — and artist Wyland’s efforts to interpret the disaster and its aftermath through this powerful assemblage of song and story.

Produced by Wyland Records
Wyland Records was founded by marine life artist Wyland to inspire conservation through music. The label builds on the Wyland tradition of using the arts to encourage people from all walks of life to make a difference.

About Wyland

Renowned marine life artist Wyland changed the way people think about our
environment when he started painting life-size whales on the sides of buildings in the
1980s. Wyland always thought big. And he never stopped.
Today, the Wyland name has become synonymous with the new generation of
awareness about environmental conservation. Through his unique marine life paintings,
sculptures, and photography, Wyland has inspired a generation about the importance
of marine life conservation. His life – like his art – can find him anywhere around the
world, at any time, from the Antarctic ice shelf on a photo expedition to document
climate change to a grassroots journey down the Mississippi River on a mission of
conservation.

The multi-faceted artist, scuba diver, educator, and explorer has hosted several
television programs, including, “Wyland’s Ocean World” series on the Discovery
Channel’s Animal Planet Network, “Wyland: A Brush With Giants” and “Wyland’s Art
Studio,” a series for national public television. His mission of engaging people through
nature-themed art and a more environmentally friendly lifestyle has led to strategic
alliances with such notable organizations as the United States Olympic Team, United
Nation Environment Program, and Walt Disney Studios, to name a few.

Wyland’s 100th and final Monumental Marine Life Mural, Hands Across the Oceans, a
24,000-square-foot, half-mile-long series of canvas murals with student artists from 110
countries, was displayed in October 2008 at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and
honored by the National Park Service, Smithsonian Institution, White House Council on
Environmental Quality, and the U.S. Department of the Interior. In May 2010, the United
Nations released six Wyland images for an international stamp issue celebrating the 50th
Anniversary of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission.

Since 1993, the non-profit Wyland Foundation has set the standard for environmental
outreach. In partnership with the United States Forest Service and National
Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Wyland is actively engaged in
teaching millions of students around the world to become caring, informed stewards of
our ocean, rivers, lakes, estuaries, and wetlands.

The enormous extent of Wyland public artworks (it is estimated that his murals are
viewed by more than a billion people every year), his award-winning art galleries, and
community service projects have made him one of the most recognized and beloved
artists in the nation. He is considered one of the most influential artists of the 21st
Century, with artwork in museums, corporate collections, and private homes in more
than one hundred countries.

More than just a respected musician, expressive singer, and accomplished songwriter, Alm has become a mainstay in the Twin Cities music scene. When asked about releasing her first new album in 25 years, Alm says simply that she feels that “It’s time.”

“I have had people ask about my music, but I just never thought of doing it,” she says.

This is my first album in many years. Produced, mixed and mastered by Grammy winner, Steve Hodge. Please click on the photo to download or buy “Me and the Wild Blue”.

Approached by Steve Hodge(who has produced Janet Jackson, Shaggy, Mariah Carey) to help with production and engineering, she jokingly said yes, but realized his sincerity when he stopped by her office the next day to talk about it.

As the catalyst to the project that became Me and the Wild Blue, Steve Hodge guided the album to what it is: a collection of love songs showcasing Mary Jane’s signature voice. On the album, Mary Jane includes some original pieces, interspersed with songs from Pamela McNeill, Kevin Bowe, and a cover of Joni Mitchell’s ” A Case of You.” “I wanted to cover Joni, but didn’t want to put that one in because it’s been done before,” Alm says. “When Steve asked me what is my favorite Joni Mitchell song, I said, ‘A Case of You,’ and that solidified my decision to add it to the album.”

She has even come full circle in recording with Tom Tucker, who recorded with her on Prisoner of the Heart.
A re-release of my 1985 album, “Prisoner of the Heart” plus previously unrecorded original songs from the 80’s, 90’s and beyond.

Despite not wanting to label herself solely as a country artist, Alm’s new song “Love Waits” debuted as number 2 in Hot Country on Reverbnation last week. “I didn’t even know what Reverbnation was until a week ago! This era of the music industry is all new to me; I’ve never had to make a press kit or a Facebook event before,” she says. When asked about what she thought about artists giving their music away to be able to gain an audience, she replies, “I don’t mind giving a few songs away, but I would like for people to pay for my music. It’s a little appalling that artists have to give their music away; they worked hard at creating that piece of art. You don’t go into a doctor’s office expecting them to do their job for free. It’s their lifeblood, and it cheapens their work.”
The passing years have been kind to Alm, though; changes in life have brought out a new side of the celebrated singer. “I am just more comfortable with who I am now,” she reflects. “When I was younger, I never spoke between songs onstage. Now you can’t get me to shut up.”

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Rooted in the Twin Cities music scene since the early ’80s, Alm immersed herself in live music, performing weekly in local venues like Nib’s and building a name for herself. (Read a show review here from City Pages‘ former music section Nightbeat from 1984.) “I have been so fortunate that I have been able to support myself with music. Not many people can say that; I get to do my dream job.”

When she said this to me, it reminded me of a passage written by John Gardner:

There is the puzzle of why some men and women go to seed, while others remain vital to the very end of their days. Going to seed may be too vague an expression. Perhaps I should say that many people, somewhere along the line, stop learning and growing. There are people whose clocks stop at a certain point in their lives.I am convinced that most people enjoy learning and growing, at any time in their life. If we are aware of the danger of going to seed we can take countervailing measures. If your clock is unwound you can wind it up again.

With her ever-travailing work ethic, Alm has no chance of going to seed.

Kiss of the Spider Woman

Luis Molina and Valentin Arregui are cell mates in a South American prison. Luis, a homosexual, is found guilty of immoral behaviour and Valentin is a political prisoner. To escape reality … See full summary »

3 guys I have known for along time Scooter, Dik and Brian and a new friend on facebook Boyd. Great music check them out!

The Tex Pistols Bandcouldn’t be much further from Texas, and nobody in the band is from Texas, but that doesn’t stop these four Minneapolis vets of stage and studio from producing some seriously kick butt music. The sound is classic yet new all at once. From Neil Young to John Hiatt, Steve Earle to Steve Winwood, throw in some Eagles and Beatles and stir in a little jam band and you get the Tex Pistols Band.

“I really didn’t think this was any special project at first. Just another group to play with, but with guys I really respect and admire. But early on, and I mean within the first three or four gigs, it started taking on a life. It’s like we all try to impress each other both live and in the studio, and it’s that pushing of the envelope every time that makes it fun for us and I think the audience as well”.- Boyd Lee

“For me it was when we got started on the record. When we started writing for it and recording, I knew we had something. When the opportunity to mix it with our friend, Grammy Award winning engineer Tom Tucker (Lucinda Williams, Prince) came about, I knew it would be “off the hook”. Tom had recently bought “Flyte Tyme” studios and I believe we’re the first record mixed there since the glory days of Jam & Lewis. When it was done and we started getting the first feedback, I knew I wasn’t the only one feeling this way about the band. The CD speaks for itself”. – Scooter Nelson

“I’m in a great band with my three best friends, making and recording the coolest music. The Well runs deep with this combo, everyone brings his own expertise to the table. I get to play my guitars and hang with my buds…doesn’t get any better.” Brian C. Peters

“I have never been involved in a more satisfying musical partnership even after years of producing, engineering and playing on countless projects. The ease and understanding of the process between us can only be described as pure joy. As we went deeper into the recording of “Fully Loaded” I realized this wasn’t just another CD, this was a great opportunity. In the studio or at a live show, the talent and life experience each person brings to the party makes it an ultimate adventure.” Dik Shopteau

Tex Pistols Band-Closer to Nowhere

Country roots – spot on song writing, serious vocal harmonies, gritty and real, with musicianship not often heard these days.

Genre: Country: Americana

Release Date: 2008

The dynamic second release from one of the upper Midwest’s best Alt-Country, Americana groups. Soul touching melodies, fresh pop/rock and killer musicianship-highlighted through emotive vocals, soaring harmonies and smoking hot guitars.

We will be playing The 2-disc Deluxe Edition expanded and resequenced the order of the original album. Introductions from the original album were combined with their corresponding songs and the Deluxe Edition added about an hour of extra content, including songs by Leon Russell, Don Preston, and Claudia Lennear. The new edition also added other famous Joe Cocker covers such as “The Weight”, “Something”, and “With A Little Help From My Friends”, all of which were absent from the original release.

Original 1970 double album liner notes

“Music From The Original Sound Track”

MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN
Including, for your delight, Cosmic Kiddies, English Roadies, Children with the Answers, Cooking Italians, Presidents of Recording Companies, Acrobatics and Displays, The Odd Sane Dog, The Space Choir, Assorted Sound Freaks, and All Elements of the Truth.

The Mad Dog Diary

11th March 1970. Joe Cocker flies into Los Angeles with the intentions of recuperating from grueling months on the road and forming a new band to perform with during the coming summer.

12th March 1970. Dee Anthony (of Bandana Management) flies into Los Angeles bearing the tidings that a seven-week Joe Cocker tour, to begin eight days later in Detroit, has been negotiated and advises Joe that the Musician’s Union, immigration authorities, and promoters involved should be mightily chagrined (to the point of barring him from performing in America henceforth) should he fail to go through with it.

13th March 1970. Leon Russell, hearing of Joe’s plight, offers his services in forming and playing in a band for Joe to take with him on his tour. So great is his prowess on the telephone that, by day’s end, ten musicians have been assembled and rehearsals begun.

14th March 1970. Some three hundred people turn out to watch the new band (which now includes eleven singers as well as ten players) rehearse for twelve hours on the A&M sound-stage.

15th March 1970. Another twelve-hour rehearsal is held and a private airplane is hired.

16th March 1970. Eleven more rehearsal hours are put under the collective belt.

17th March 1970. Yet another marathon rehearsal is staged, this one recorded in its entirety, with “The Letter”/“Space Captain” single resulting. The entourage, henceforth known as Mad Dogs & Englishmen, now numbers thirty-six, including the musicians, three sound men, two secretaries, three roadies, managers, wives, lovers, assorted children, and other animals.

18th March 1970. Someone proposes that the whole tour be filmed. Another, bigger, airplane is ordered to accommodate the five-man-film-crew supplemented entourage, which now numbers forty-three.

19th March 1970. These forty-three crowd into the new Super Constellation and wing to Detroit, where their first live performance occurs the next day.

27th and 28th March 1970. Four appearances later Joe Cocker, Mad Dogs & Englishmen arrive at the Fillmore East, wherein this album was recorded in its entirety, the lion’s share coming from the Friday evening shows.

16th May 1970. After playing their last show together (in San Bernardino, California) and then kissing, embracing, flashing back sentimentally, and crying the odd tear, Joe Cocker, Mad Dogs & Englishmen go their separate ways, but not before having bestowed upon each of us who saw them or have heard this album or will see the film of their adventures a generous dose of joy.

Good Bye Your Music Lives on….

Joe Cocker, who has died aged 70, was a Sheffield-born singer who came to be considered one of the greatest white blues and soul vocalists. With a voice that could rage, bellow, rasp, screech or – if circumstance demanded – be unexpectedly yearning and vulnerable, he was capable of taking any song and making it his own.

Cocker proved this conclusively with his first and biggest hit, a cover of the Beatles’ With a Little Help From My Friends. Replacing the Fab Four’s cheerful, music-hall arrangement with his own tortured reading, Cocker topped the charts and so stunned Woodstock the following year that he established himself as rock’s most incendiary white soul singer.

It was a role for which he was perfectly suited. Honing his voice on a bottle of bourbon and 80 cigarettes a day, Cocker spent much of the Seventies in an alcohol and drug-fuelled haze. He reached the bottom in 1974 when the curtain was lowered on a performance in Los Angeles in which, having appeared in a vomit-encrusted jacket and cast-off jeans, he curled into the foetal position and was unable to continue.

But he was a survivor, for whom hair, sideboards, beard and stomach might come and go while his voice, if occasionally croaky, never let him down. Returning to the charts in 1982 with the Oscar-winning ballad Up Where We Belong, the theme to the hit movie An Officer and a Gentleman, Cocker enjoyed an Indian summer of sell-out tours and renewed chart success.

Cocker lived the stereotypical life of the blues. A wild man who earned – and paid for – his headlines, his career would have ended but for the majesty of his voice. He rarely wrote songs, but had no need. He had his own constituency. As Life magazine observed, he was “the voice of the blind criers and crazy beggars and maimed men who summon up the strength to bawl out their souls in the streets”.

John Robert Cocker was born in Sheffield on May 20 1944. He left Sheffield Central Technical School at 15 to work as a gas fitter and perform as Vance Arnold, in which guise he supported the Rolling Stones and the Hollies at Sheffield City Hall.

As Joe Cocker’s Big Blues he recorded the Beatles’ I’ll Cry Instead, but the record failed to register. After a tour of GI bases in France and another stint with the Gas Board he teamed up with the keyboards player and bass guitarist Chris Stainton, and formed the Grease Band, whose first single, Marjorine, dented the foot of the charts.

It was the release of With a Little Help From My Friends that propelled Cocker into the big time. Claiming that he had worked out the arrangement in the outside loo of his father’s house, his trembling, tumultuous performance invested the song with such poignancy that the Beatles took out full-page advertisements in the music press praising his version.

But Cocker’s signature was not confined to his voice. His onstage mannerisms – legs bolted to the floor while his hands, arms and upper body convulsed – caused him to be likened to “a dancer in a wheelchair”. When he appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show some members of the audience found it so distasteful that the singer was largely obscured by dancers.

Despite this, America embraced his furnace-like roar. His first album, With a Little Help From My Friends (1969), consisted mainly of covers bent on the anvil of his voice into personal and definitive readings. Throughout 1969 he toured extensively, appearing at all the major rock festivals, including Woodstock, at which he gave a towering performance, cementing his reputation as one of the biggest voices and most compelling acts around.

Joe Cocker! (1969), which included a turbulent rendition of Leon Russell’s Delta Lady, proved the valedictory outing for the Grease Band, who had become little more than a background to his vocals.

But without a band, and with a touring contract to fulfil, Cocker assembled 21 musicians, wives, hangers-on, managers, roadies, children, a film crew, a spotted dog and a bus driver and set out across the States on the chaotic “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” tour, performing 65 concerts in 57 days.

The experience, in addition to the cavalier range of substances Cocker ingested, so exhausted the singer that he was forced to return to Sheffield to recuperate. As the album Mad Dogs and Englishmen (1970) and its accompanying single, Cry Me a River, stormed the American charts, a desolate Cocker was dividing his time between his parents’ house and the pub, lamenting “the three o’clock break – that’s the endless gap between lunchtime and the pub opening again at six o’clock”.

His only appearance, as he wrestled with his demons and life-threatening addictions to whisky and heroin, was a supposedly triumphant homecoming at Sheffield City Hall. But, singing alongside the Mad Dogs veteran Rita Coolidge, his performance merely confirmed that his recuperation remained incomplete, and 1971 passed in a haze. On one occasion he met Princess Anne in a nightclub and, temporarily confused, thought she was his girlfriend. It took a pair of policemen to convince him otherwise.

He found the strength to resuscitate his career after seeing Ray Charles interviewed on television. When Charles was asked: “Who are the greatest living blues singers?” he answered: “Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Joe Cocker.” Inspired, Cocker returned to the stage. He toured America and Europe, but was forced to leave Australia overnight with six of his band members to avoid 18 charges, including assault, having already been fined A$1,200 for drug offences.

Rarely uninfluenced by hard-core addictions, and suffering memory lapses, Cocker relocated to Los Angeles in 1973 and – when he could make it to the studio – continued to enjoy periodic chart success. By now completely incapable of writing his own songs, he remained such an idiosyncratic interpreter of other songwriters’ material that the omission was scarcely relevant.

Despite his “foetal” performance before the press in LA in early 1974, Cocker’s voice ensured that the curtain never quite came down on his career. The tumult in his life may even have helped, both in the increasingly ravaged grandeur of his singing and in attracting songwriters keen to benefit from such a uniquely rough-edged, wounded instrument. If his behaviour tested the patience of his record companies beyond endurance, a series of albums – I Can Stand A Little Rain (1974), Jamaica Say You Will (1975), Stingray (1976), Luxury You Can Afford (1978), Standing Tall (1981) – performed creditably, as did the singles culled from them.

And for all his troubles Cocker retained the affection of his industry. When he sang the Crusaders’ I’m So Glad I’m Still Standing Here Today – a song specifically written for him – at the 1982 Grammy Awards, he received a standing ovation and renewed record company interest. It proved a turning point. Up Where We Belong, his duet with Leonard Cohen’s long-time backing singer Jennifer Warnes, was propelled by the success of the Richard Gere/Debra Winger film An Officer and a Gentleman to become his first American No 1. It also won the Oscar for Best Film Song.

On the back of this success he filled large arenas in the US and Europe, especially Germany, where his popularity had never waned. He enjoyed a triumphant return to Sheffield almost 10 years to the day after his last drug-fuelled appearance there.

He also recorded songs for movies, including You Can Leave Your Hat On for Adrian Lyne’s 9½ Weeks, in which he turned Randy Newman’s sly voyeurism into a tidal wave of restrained lust. The singer observed: “I suddenly made a lot of friends. They kept coming over and wanting to see the director’s cut of Kim Basinger stripping for Mickey Rourke.”

Renewed success brought a relative harmony to the singer’s personal life. Supported by his new wife, Pam, whom he had met at Jane Fonda’s house while he was living in Santa Barbara, he rejected heroin, forsook spirits for beer and, after a long struggle, overcame his nicotine addiction. He rejoiced in less turbulent times and bought a ranch in Colorado that he rechristened the “Mad Dog Ranch”. There he raised animals, grew his own food, opened a café and indulged his passion for fly-fishing.

By now bearded, balding and portly, the singer was one of the music industry’s most celebrated survivors and was accorded the appropriate respect. He released occasional albums of “new” material, regular “greatest hits” and “live” collections and even covered his own covers. Capable of filling Old Trafford, he also performed for the Prince’s Trust and the usual flotilla of charity fundraisers.

These included such occasions as Nelson Mandela’s 70th Birthday Concert, the Concert for Berlin after the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, the inauguration of President Bush and the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. But however civilised the setting, Cocker’s voice remained defiantly and magnificently un-housetrained, and his movements on stage as pained as ever.

He is survived by his wife Pam, whom he married in 1987, and by a stepdaughter. His brother, Victor, was chief executive of Severn Trent.

a new dynamic duo , blues blasters , soul searchers, gospel wailers. This duo consists of One Young Man who has a Classic Unique Voice with the power of a Juggernaut and One Elderly Statesman of Rock with an armful of Vintage Guitars and a Headful of Crazy Experience.